Tired of being tuned out by someone who is busy following Ashton Kutcher’s tweets,
sexting their latest Plentyoffish catch, or bidding on a Virgin Mary fish stick on eBay  …?

If you want some insight into why people feel it’s OK to text/Twitter/Google/Oogle/etc.
while talking, while at dinner, while on the can, while giving birth … or doing any number of other things,

Yes, these guys are texting while free-falling

this book might have something to say about it:

The Shallows: What The Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr

Read the New York Times book review.

Read the New Republic book review.

(Has Carr gone too far? You decide.)

The title of this post is taken from a line in the New Republic article: “We turn into what the playwright Richard Foreman called ‘pancake people—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.’”

I think “crepe people” is more accurate, because crepes are thinner than pancakes.

(That pretty much sums up my point of view.)

Crepes

Here’s an opinion piece in the New York Times that disagrees with Carr.

Mind Over Mass Media – Steven Pinker

Is Pinker a stinker? You decide.

Whatever you decide, I think we can all agree that texting and sexting, Googling and oogling, while ignoring those who are trying to engage or interact with you in the real world, is the height of rudeness, to borrow an expression from Jemaine Clement.

So stop doing it. Stop being a crepe.

Check out this WolframAlpha site

What the hell is it, you ask?

“It’s a computational knowledge engine: it generates output by doing computations from its own internal knowledge base, instead of searching the web and returning links.”

It’s very cool.

Wanna know about the #10 screw, 20/50 vision, how many pints of blood are in you, nutrition facts of 10 peanut M&M’s, 2,5 torus knot,
GDP of Namibia, the elevation around Odessa, Ukraine … ?

Wanna compare IBM and Apple stocks? … Here’s what it will tell you for both, side by side, in the blink of an eye:

Latest trades, market cap, revenue, employees, revenue/employee, net income, shares outstanding, annual earnings/share, P/E ration, annual dividends/share, dividend yield, recent returns (day, month, YTD, year, 5 year), graph of the relative price history (last month, last 2 years, last 5 years), average daily return, daily volatility, annual return, annual volatility, chart showing realized return vs. volatility, correlation matrix chart, projections graph (6 months, 1 year, 2 years), mean-variance optimal portfolio chart , expected return chart (AAPL, SP500, bonds, T-bills), optimal portfolio’s expected yearly return, optimal portfolio’s yearly volatility

It’s endless fun for geeks and non-geeks alike,

(Thank you Linda M. for finding this, I’m sharing it with you on her behalf.)

If Lady Gaga doesn’t do it for you, and if Justin Bieber makes you want to bury your head in the sand … if you’re looking for good, real music thats being made right in your backyard rather than rolling off the American Idol assembly line, check out The Roncey Boys (from the Roncesvalles area), ’cause they’re about as anti-pop as it gets. This “ragtime-dandy-piano-rock” musical act features Christian Aldo on vocals and Colin Edgley on piano. And that’s it. That’s all. Just two guys singing and playing their hearts out. There’s nothing fake or overblown here and their songs are sure to put a smile on your face.

They’ve been appearing around town at places like the Cloak & Dagger and The Press Club, and they’re building a devoted following. Right now the recordings are pretty, well, basic – integral to the appeal yes – but who knows what can happen down the road? It should be very interesting. (Someone should sign these guys if they’re not signed already – and fast.) So visit them on MySpace and have a listen. Or listen to these. If you like what you hear let ‘em know and keep your eyes peeled for shows in Now and Eye.

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Free Man

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Fun-loving Guy

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I'll Be There

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So Long

The Roncey Boys at McCready Studios

This blog post is dedicated to Natalie, who gave me the lowdown on this.

This is for all the TAXI workaholics pulling late nights out there who missed Oprah when she covered this because you know she did (and you were working anyway).

So peel your lips from that can of Red Bull, drain your last triple espresso, and put away the smelling salts …if you think I’m talking about chia pets, you’re mistaken. They sucked then and they suck now  …

… but you need to read this (what follows was Googled and gleaned from seemingly reputable sites) …

Chia comes from the chia plant (Salvia hispanica) and belongs to the mint family of Lamiaceae.

It’s native to some parts of Mexico and Guatemala, and it has a long history, going way back to as early as 3500 BC. The Aztecs, the Mayans, and now those in the know are eating these blessed seeds daily. They blow most “superfoods”, including flax, Goji berries, and Ben&Jerry’s, away.

First, they don’t go bad quickly, like flax does, and you don’t have to grind ‘em to get their blessings.

One ounce, has:

• Omega-3 fatty acids, 4915 mg, equal to 250 g (9 oz.) of wild salmon
• Omega-6 fatty acids, 1620 mg
• Antioxidants – equal to 15 grams of blueberries
• Fibre – 10.6 grams of dietary fibre, equal to 17 g of bran
• Protein – equal to 44 grams of kidney beans
• Calcium – 177 mg, equal to 3 oz. of whole milk
• Magnesium – equal to 73 g of spinach
• Iron – equal to 103 g of spinach
• Potassium – 44.8 mg
• Phosphorus – 265 mg

PLUS:

• They are bursting with vitamin B, C, E, plus other vitamins and minerals
• Improves cardiovascular health
• Reduces cravings for sugar and junk
• Brings down high blood pressure
• Stabilizes blood sugar levels
• Helps reduce pain and inflammation associated with arthritis
• Boosts metabolism
• Promotes lean muscle mass
• Aids digestion and detoxification
• Fills you up, so it helps weight loss
• Keeps you well hydrated and your electrolytes in balance
• Improves brain function, mental focus, and concentration
• Enhances energy (effective in enhancing the performance of athletes)
• Anti-aging properties
• They are gluten-free and low carb
• At room temp., they’ll stay fresh and ready to eat for over two years

Chia seeds

I mean, unless you want this seed to impregnate you, there’s not much more it can do for you.

There’s probably more to say about them, but that’s the gist of it. There are two kinds, white and black chia seeds, and as far as I know, they’re pretty much the same in terms of potency and quality. If you let the chia seeds sit in water, they will form into a gelatinous cloud and when you swallow the cloud it feels like swallowing a large glob of mucus or something. Basically, it’s kinda gross. (Though Natalie digs it.) I don’t recommend this. Take two tablespoons a day, and like all good things, except working at TAXI of course, don’t overdo it. You can find it at health food or organic stores, Whole Foods for sure, places like that. I get mine at St. Lawrence Market. They are not cheap, but then, neither is a coffee or drug habit. (Just heard Bulk Barn sells ‘em cheaper than those places.) Let us know how it goes and how you feel after a few weeks. Take before and after photos if you can.